England easily wins warm-up match against Afghanistan by 9 wickets
England wins the eight practice match for the ICC Cricket World Cup against Afghanistan by 9 wickets. They achieved 161 to 1 in 17.3 overs courtesy of home team’s successful plays.
Wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow and batsman Jason Roy had a blazing start of the match. Bowlers Jofra Archer, Tom Curran, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, and Mark Wood were mixing their lengths precisely in the match.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan batsmen remained on their back foot where they made short deliveries throughout the game. Because of this, the team lost three crickets before getting to the fifty-run mark.
The right arm fast medium bowler Archer kept the Afghans on hold when he made an early damage as an unexpected bowling source in the middle overs. Batsman Joe Root registered three wickets in-game while Rashid and all-rounder Ben Stokes bowled brilliantly from the other end to restrict the game to 92/8 inside 25 overs.
Right-handed batsman Roy completed a half-century with current Test captain Joe Root after Bairstow was dismissed for a 22-ball 39. Roy finished the game off on 89 from 46 balls after chasing the below-par target of inside 18 overs.
The host team will kickstart the ICC Cricket World Cup on May 30 against South Africa at The Oval.
